Dr Olivia Carter
BA; BSc(Hons); PhD
Lecturer & NHMRC CJ Martin Research Fellow
| email: ocarter AT unimelb.edu.au | |
| telephone: +61 3 8344 6372 |
“How does the brain generate a conscious experience?” The majority of my research is motivated by this general question. There are a million different ways to address this question, but most of my work focuses on ambiguous stimuli and other illusions that involve big perceptual changes or large parts of an image disappearing completely. One striking example is binocular rivalry, a phenomenon that occurs when different stimuli are presented to the left and right eye simultaneously. Despite the fact that the two images are always being presented, people generally report only seeing one of the images at a time because the other image is completely suppressed from awareness. Another illusion that generates complete perceptual suppression is Motion Induced Blindness (click here for MIB demonstration).
The second focus of my research aims to address the question “What role does pharmacology play in determining our perceptual experience?” A lot of research has shown that neurotransmitters (and drugs that target these neurotransmitter systems) have a huge impact on emotion and arousal, but less is known about the role of neurotransmitters in shaping our sensory experience. In an attempt to investigate this question I have studied some of the perceptual effects of hallucinogens and other drugs that disrupt the serotonergic system.
Research Interests:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Perception (Vision, Auditory & Tactile)
- Attention
- Pharmacology
- Clinical Neuroscience
- Perceptual Impairments in Schizophrenia
- Methods used
- Psychophysics
- Psychopharmacology
- Brain Imaging (fMRI, MEG & EEG)
Professional Associations & Memberships:
- Affiliated Research Fellow, Martinos Center, Dept of Radiology, MGH/Harvard.
- Affiliated Research Fellow, Mental Health Research Institute (Melbourne)
- Executive Director, Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness
- Member, Australian Neuroscience Society
- Member, Organization for Human Brain Mapping
- Member, Society for Neuroscience
- Member, Vision Science Society
Awards & Fellowships:
- Australian Postgraduate Award, (2002-2005)
- Heffter Research Institute Fellowship, (2003)
- Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, (2005)
- NHMRC, CJ Martin Overseas Training Fellowship, (2006-2010)
- Early Career Research Grant, University of Melbourne, (2008)
Selected Publications:
Book Chapters:
Pettigrew, J. & Carter, O. (2002) Vision as motivation: interhemispheric oscillation alters perception. Adv Exp Med Biol 508: 461 9
Pettigrew, J. & Carter, O. (2004) Perceptual Rivalry as an Ultradian Oscillation. In: Binocular rivalry. (Eds.) David Alais and Randolph Blake, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Refereed Journal Articles
Snyder, J., Holder, W. T., Weintraub, D., Carter, O. & Alain, C. (In Press) Effects of prior stimulus and prior perception on neural correlates of auditory stream segregation. Psychophysiology
Snyder, J., Carter, O., Hannon, E. & Alain. C. (2009) Multiple levels of representation in auditory stream segregation: Evidence from context effects. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform. 35(4): 1232-1244
Naber, M., Carter, O., & Verstraten, F. (2009) Suppression wave dynamics: visual field anisotropies and inducer strength. Vision Research. 49(14): 1805-13
Cochi, L., Bosisio, F., Carter, O., Wood, S., Berchtold, A., Conus, P., Orita, A., Debbané, M. & Schenk, F. (2009) Deficit dissociation between visuospatial working memory and visual pursuit processes in schizophrenia. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 43:766-74.
Carter, O., Konkle, T., Wang, Q., Hayward, V. & Moore, C. (2008) Tactile rivalry demonstrated with ambiguous apparent motion quartet. Current Biology 18(4):1050-54.
Einhäuser, W., Stout, J., Koch, C. & Carter, O. (2008) Reply to Hupé et al.: The predictive correlation of pupil dilation and relative dominance duration in rivalry is not a statistical artifact. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 105:E44.
Snyder, J., Carter, O., Lee, S.K., Hannon, E. & Alain. C. (2008) Effects of Context on Auditory Stream Segregation. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform. 34(4):1007-16.
Einhäuser, W., Stout, J., Koch, C. & Carter, O. (2008) Pupil dilation reflects perceptual selection and predicts subsequent stability in perceptual rivalry. Proc Natl Acad Sci 105(5): 1704-1709.
Carter, O. & Cavanagh, P. (2007)Onset rivalry: Brief presentation isolates an early independent phase of perceptual competition PLoS ONE 2(4): e343.
Carter, O., Hasler, F., Pettigrew, J.D., Wallis, G., Liu, G. B. & Vollenweider, F. X. (2007) Psilocybin links binocular rivalry switch rate to attention and subjective arousal levels in humans. Psychopharmacology 195: 415-424.
Wittmann, M., Carter, O., Grimberg, U., Hasler, F., Cahn, R., Hell, D., Flohr, H. & Vollenweider, F. X. (2007) Effects of psilocybin on time perception and temporal control of behaviour in humans. J Psychopharmacology 21(1): 50-64.
Carter, O., Burr, D., Pettigrew, J. D., Wallis, G. M., Hasler, F. & Vollenweider, F. X. (2005) Using psilocybin to investigate the relationship between attention, working memory and the Serotonin1A and 2A receptors. J Cog Neuroscience 17(10): 1497 150.
Carter, O., Presti, D., Callistemon, C., Liu, G. B., Ungerer, Y. & Pettigrew, J. D. (2005) Meditation Alters Perceptual Rivalry in Tibetan Buddhist Monks. Current Biology 15(11): R412-R413
Carter, O., Pettigrew, J., Hasler, F. & Wallis, G., Liu, G. B., Hell, D., & Vollenweider, F. X. (2005) Modulating the rate and rhythmicity of perceptual rivalry alternations with the mixed 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A agonist psilocybin. Neuropsychopharmacology 30: 1154-1162.
Carter, O., Pettigrew, J., Burr, D., Alais, D., Hasler, F. & Vollenweider, F. X. (2004) Psilocybin impairs high-level but not low-level motion perception. Neuroreport 15 (12): 1947-1951.
Carter, O., Campbell, T., Liu, G. B. & Wallis, G. (2004) Contradictory influence of context on predominance during binocular rivalry. Clin Exp Optom 87 (3): 153-162.
Carter, O. & Pettigrew, J. (2003) A Common Oscillator for Perceptual Rivalries? Perception 32 (3): 295-305.